wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

I wish my husband had not been overlooked and denied treatment by the army chaplain but instead he ended up committing suicide. I lived with the pain PTSD causes and although I agree that some people are able to process the awfulness of war, most aren't and the system that brings them into that situation needs to help get them out as well.

I've written a lot about this so I'm exhausted but still very, very angry.

I am a psychiatric nurse and would like to address Mr. Benjamin's characterization of Personality Disorders and Anxiety Disorders as conditions that are unlike PTSD because they are the "patient's fault". The Anxiety Disorders and the Personality Disorders are illnesses briefed in the DSM IV and the newer revision alongside PTSD. Some Personality Disorders are associated with childhood abuse and genetic vulnerability. Mr. Benjamin does a gross public disservice to refer to these medical conditions, in contrast to PTSD, as "the patient's fault.

It does not surprise me that the army behaved this way under the Bush administration. Any change since January 20th?
Excuse me if you have already discussed this, I am listening on delay.

as someone who has written about this issue, have been to Iraq (as a journalist) and talked to many soliders/marines, i think you need to be careful about how greatly you're ringing the alarm here.

PTSD is real and widespread among Iraq veterans, no doubt about it. However, to talk about 1 in 3 soldiers unfit to carry weapons is, I would submit, not an accurate reflection of the problem, and risks sounding a bit unduly alarmist.

The Army absolutely denies PTSD too often. But on the other hand, anyone who has been to Iraq, whether soldier, reporter, diplomat or food vending contractor, probably has come back with some version of PTSD. I know I did. But it was neither traumatic nor debilitating. And I would submit that may be case with many soldiers/marines. too.

My guess is that people who come back from combat NOT diagnosed with PTSD should be watched closely.

If you want to start a war, START THE DRAFT! All should serve.

I am not a soldier, but I did develop PTSD following a severe assault on me a few years ago by a gang of boys. I was very lucky to have good insurance and good health providers to diagnose and treat me. What really enrages me about our failure to treat PTSD in veterans is how *relatively* easy it is to treat PTSD: there are several combinations of therapy and medication that are clinically proven to reduce symptoms in a rather short amount of time. However, left untreated, PTSD can bring about untold havoc in peoples' lives. Even in a cost-benefit analysis, it's much cheaper to quickly and effectively treat PTSD as soon as possible than it is to let it linger for years and years. And that has huge implications for how well people do in their family, romantic, and professional lives. Moreover, if these veterans don't get the right treatment through the army, our society has no other safety net because someone who is unemployable because of PTSD is not going to have outside insurance or treatment options. This really is a moral, social, and bureaucratic failure.

PTSD has been massively over diagnosed but I don't condemn the doctors for doing this in the past. Trying to keep their health care is not sneaky and we shouldn't condemn these guys for trying to keep their benefits by whatever means, it's literarly a matter of survival. Many of these guys have no qualifications and the chances are that when they return they won't find a job with benefits, especially in this climate. If we had universal health care this simply would not be an issue.

wow. this got me soo sooo angry. this is how the U.S. thanks all the soldiers?

this is depressing.

I'd say it's one thing to over diagnose but it's a completely different thing and not very wise to secretly, no less, make it policy to diagnose something that is a fact!!! The first is a problem the second is immoral and unwise and plain wrong.

My brother was released from the army in 2005 after serving a year in Iraq, and was told a similar thing by one of his doctors (that there is pressure to not diagnose ptsd), and was made to undergo many erroneous tests before he could even be considered for benefits. After many years of jumping through hoops and dealing with the dysfunctional VA system, he, only recently, was able to begin collecting benefits and undergo treatment as a result of his ptsd.

I think Now with David Brancovich already did this story like 2 years ago.